This invention relates to a method of installing a structural support piling in a subsoil setting passing through a zone of contamination, and the apparatus used therein. This piling, or group of pilings, can be used to support an at or above ground structure without adversely affecting or impacting the environment.
One conventional method of achieving support for a structure over non-contaminated ground would include the installation of a concrete spread footing of sufficient dimensions and strength, in the cured state, to support the structure at or above ground level. Another conventional method would include pile driving a metal or wood piling down to a dense underground layer structure. In the situation where below ground contamination has been determined to exist, usually by soil analyses of materials taken from different depths into the subsoil, and particularly where an aquifer could be involved, a concrete spread footing could settle and preclude or interfere with the excavation or other type of penetration of a contaminated zone below the footing at a future date. Settling of a concrete spread footing could also cause tilting problems for structures that have to be rigidly held in place. The conventional pile driving method is not advisable because of the possibility of forcing contaminants toward an aquifer.